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* A few stories to set the tone…
* Rahm’s leadership legacy: ‘A’ for making tough decisions, ‘F’ for collaboration
* The downtown skyline grew taller and burned brighter
* Rahm Emanuel’s legacy on ethics: The storm cloud lifted — except at CPS
* Rahm Emanuel wants you to know that Chicago is better off today than it was 8 years ago
* Rahm’s Exit Interview
* RIP Rahm Emanuel, ‘the most Chicago of Chicago mayors’
* Socialists Leave Rahm Emanuel Legacy in Tatters in Chicago Elections
* The Question: Your opinion of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s legacy?
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:17 pm
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I think he did a good job. Chicago has a beautiful downtown and many great restaurants. He could have done more with the crime issue but can any mayor really fix the crime issue? I give him a solid B grade.
Comment by New Bear 54 Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:22 pm
Less wrought iron.
What could Rahm (or any future mayor) have done with parking meter revenue?
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:24 pm
Nothing fit for polite company. Let’s ust say I imagine him in the same place as Bruce.
For a long, long time…
Comment by Morty Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:24 pm
He caused police reform to start happening by hiding the Laquan video.
He wasted four years before starting to address the budget problems - but he did finally start to address them.
He was always too concerned about winning the news cycle.
Comment by Keyrock Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:28 pm
Wasted opportunity is my view of Emanuel’s two terms.
Totally agree that Emanuel failed to address budgetary problems during his first term. He was too focused on securing reelection, so he kicked the can down the road. Almost every Chicagoan believes that Rahm was the one who tried to bury the Laquan McDonald tape.
The Sun-Times article had it right. Despite some good ideas, Emanuel was totally uninterested in listening to others and seeking consensus before making decisions.
The Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department did not improve under his watch. Rahm helped provoke a strike with the Chicago Teachers Union and as of today, the clerical staff union at the City Colleges of Chicago has gone on strike.
C- is the best grade that he deserves.
Comment by Practical Politics Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:37 pm
It’s a tough job. He did the best he could.
I’m probably somewhere between Fran Spielman and Steve Rhodes on this, lol, which is like being somewhere between LA and New York.
http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/column/the_tuesday_papers_659.php
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:40 pm
If you only care about the Loop, great. If you’re anyone else, terrible. The only economic project he could hang his hat on outside of corporate relocation (usually from somewhere else in state) was the Method Soap factory. Everything else was always ‘coming’.
Comment by Anon For Now Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:46 pm
C grade obsessed with power/control and a blame artist. He used the mayoral postition for a springboard to higher office, but the McDonald issue side tracked him no recovering from that.
Comment by theCardinal Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:47 pm
I think Fran Spielman summed up his legacy very well, for the most part.
I’d add that his spin doctor skills served him very well in setting the agenda and manipulating the Chicago media, feeding them the daily lines and distracting them from pursuing independent lines of inquiry.
His two biggest scandals — B3 and the McDonald coverup — weren’t discovered by any major Chicago media outlet.
Sarah Karp at Catalyst Chicago broke the B3 scandal, while James Kalven owned the McDonald story.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:49 pm
I think he did a good job. But pandered a little to much to the left for me. Had some good people work for him though. He was in a tough position financially. I told his people down here that he should have just bit the bullet and raised property taxes even more than he did. They are way lower than the burbs. Better than having bad schools and infrastructure.
He is a jerk but at least he was our jerk.
Comment by Been There Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 3:58 pm
On the whole, Chicago is a better city with him at the helm. Is he a perfect man? No. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But I think voters will ultimately look back and realize that he was a good mayor for Chicago. I give him a B.
Comment by Shytown Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:29 pm
Lori Lightfoot will inherit a much more stable and more manageable situation than Rahm did. He had a lot to shore up after his long term predecessor put off a lot of tough decisions. Rahm’s personality was right to make the tough decisions. His bedside manner lacked. He thought his accomplishments would make people accept that part of his personality. He was wrong.
That said, he was the right guy at the right time and he’s also leaving at the right time. History will likely be a bit kinder to him than the present. He’s set up Lori nicely to succeed. I hope she does.
Comment by A guy Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:30 pm
Rahm will be remembered as the Pat Quinn of mayors - made fiscal situation better, but wasn’t well liked.
Comment by Angry Republican Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:39 pm
===He’s set up Lori nicely to succeed===
Look, I’m a fan of Rahm’s, but the red ink he is leaving is a mile deep, the city can’t afford to pay a new police contract plus back wages, and the teachers’ contract is up. Add in the current annual budget shortfall plus the still unaddressed pension under-funding and the only part of your comment I’d agree with is the first four words of the sentence above.
Granted, he was handed a gigantic financial mess too, but he did some of the same can-kicking that got us into this mess and for reasons I still can’t fathom, he chose not to blame Daley for all of it.
I suspect Lori won’t make the same mistake.
Comment by 47th Ward Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:40 pm
Fifty closed schools and sixteen shots.
Comment by University staffer Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:47 pm
Rahm inherited the Daley machine whole sale, and rather than attempt to reform it or reign it in (see him backing down from Ed Burke in 2011), he traded them additional time to be corrupt for his advancement of select neo-liberal policies.
These neo-liberal policies were most visible in his enhancement of downtown at the expense of the South and West sides, his abuse of the TIF program (meant for “blighted”/”dis invested” areas, actually used in situations like Lincoln Yard), and overall a top down management style which was not interested at all in engaging residents and was more about driving select/visible growth metrics.
He took some baby steps towards stabilizing the budget, pushing off more tough decisions for his successor, and delaying the additional pain until he is out of sight. I think overall he proved to be the petty, middle manager type that he is often portrayed as.
Comment by Bobby Beagle Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 4:55 pm
Mixed. He did a good job with the City’s finances and raising taxes, which the City needed. He couldn’t see that the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze on the mental health clinic and scofflaw stuff. He couldn’t see that BBB was crazy and couldn’t get in front of the police reform issues until public pressure forced him to.
Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:04 pm
The longer school day is the only reason we stayed in Chicago and were able to send our kids to CPS high schools instead of continuing with unsustainable private school tuition or move to the suburbs. He gave us the longer school day. Also, on day 1 he took away credit cards from city employees/departments. Who knows what had been charged to those cards.
Comment by 32nd Ward Roscoe Village Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:11 pm
He worked hard to make sure the City moved forward on corporate connections. Terrible job at explaining why schools had to close, not able to communicate with neighborhoods. I do think that he will be missed, even if it’s just the usual, oh, I wish that former was still around, but I do think it will be more.
Comment by Amalia Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:14 pm
An abnormally abhorrent individual, I’d gladly put on my largest winter boot and stomp downtown to ‘thank’ him on way out…good riddance.
Comment by RoscoeRatMatt Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:17 pm
I think Rahm did more to stabilize and grow areas of prosperity than Rich.
Did he replace parents to make kids learn or obey laws to the point that the cops did not over react? Nope, but I think that is shared duty.
Did he control health care costs. Nope, but that is a failure shared nationwide.
best wishes to the Mayor-elect. Hopefully the other regions of the state recognize the value of a prosperous Chicago. The clowncar club are probably too far gone, but they are not many. This task is doable
Comment by Annonin' Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:21 pm
Lightfoot would have beaten him handily.
The mini-Rahm’s that ran in 43 and 47 were soundly thumped.
His interest in Chicago were precisely correlated to the extent his policy initiatives could get him national press or a 30 minute Q&A at the Aspen Institute.
A good and efficient manager, to be sure. A lesser leader, Chicago has not known.
Comment by Adios Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 5:42 pm
His email love letters to Ken “Fightin’ them speedbumps” Griffin and wine buddy Rauner sum up his legacy to me. Drop everything for rich white guys, cover up murder of poor black guy.
Good riddance.
Comment by Excitable Boy Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 6:02 pm
Who?
Comment by JAH Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 6:03 pm
I always admired Emmanuel for not being afraid to make difficult decisions. That is an admirable trait when we have pols all around us that go out of their way to avoid making difficult decisions and have become experts at kicking the can down the road.
However, I was always annoyed that he didn’t properly communicate the reasons for his choices or even try to build consensus.
Comment by Just Me 2 Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 6:23 pm
The coldet fish in Chicago.
Comment by Anonymous Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 8:05 pm
Come on, let’s do a Rauner post-morterm. Rauner-legacy.
Say what you want about Rahm — but Rauner is the mystery. He’ll be like Trump — the black hole politico. The aberration.
Comment by bobbychapelle Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 9:08 pm
–but Rauner is the mystery. He’ll be like Trump — the black hole politico. The aberration–
From your mouth to God’s ear, that they’re aberrations.
Comment by wordslinger Wednesday, May 1, 19 @ 9:47 pm
Led the nation in corporate relocations for over four years.
Shut down underperforming schools - some which had enrollments of under 150 students.
Created the Riverwalk. Boosted tourism to 57 million per year.
Invested in infrastructure like L stations. Modernized garbage pickup to a citywide grid system instead of alderman control. Implemented 311 app to bypass alderman control for city services request.
Phased out the practice of scoop and toss financing. Created the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund to pump millions into small businesses on the south/west sides.
Comment by Matt Thursday, May 2, 19 @ 6:28 am